Flower Photography

I enjoy photographing flowers because there are so many different spices and they are simple to photograph.  They have many different colors based on the time of year it is.  There are different angles that can be done on the same subject and get a completely different kind of photograph.  Flowers come in many sizes from the ones tiny to others that can be larger.

What I Do

When planning my day to photograph flowers I will go out early in the morning or late in the day.  The lighting brings out a lot of color.  Once the sun is high enough in the sky, shadows start to be a problem, so I carry a reflector to help shine light to the darker areas.   The best time is just before sunrise where there is enough light but no shadows.   I have found out that photographing when it is cloudy allows shooting all day and the colors come out very well.  

Most of the time I will use a tripod so I can take my time to create the composition I want.  I used a full frame camera and rarely use a flash system.  Since I am on a tripod, I have the time for longer exposures, however, when wind is around, I need to use a high ISO setting.   I mostly use the Canon 28-70 F/2.8 lens but sometimes need to use my wider Canon 11-24 F/4 lens.  When the flower is too far away, I will used my telephoto 100-400 F/4-5.6 lens.